Real food for the right reasons. . . What I’ve been reading up on lately.

Ever since my last blog post, I feel like I jumped head first into a big lake, thinking it was just a pond. Hopefully this post will show you what I mean by that!

What I mean to say is, in the last month or so, I’ve slowly discovered all these amazing blogs that have taught me oodles of information about what it means to eat and be healthy. And I thought I had that down since I’m a nurse and all, right? Ha! I wish! To the contrary, I’ve been learning that most of what I have learned in my little old nutrition class that was only 1 month long (is it really only that important?) was mostly false, filled with government sponsored (figuratively and actually probably literally too) information.

Some new things I’ve been learning…

– Saturated fat is actually GOOD for you, and all those “healthy” oils (like canola, soybean, etc.) are actually harming you. See here for more information on that one.

– Along the lines of fats… coconut oil is AMAZING for you! Use to to cook and bake instead of using butter (which I also learned is actually good!) and especially without all those polyunsaturated oils. See here for more info.

– Milk… the kind you buy in stores that is pasteurized and homogenized… is quite bad for you. Not that milk itself is, but after they heat it up to kill all the “nasty bugs” in it, they also kill anything good in the milk, too! And when they homogenize it (make it all one consistency), they denature all the good nutrients. Best way to consume milk: RAW! Yes, hard to find (need to find a local farmer!) and also yes, it’s more expensive. But once you learn how BAD store-bought milk is (even organic is really no better if it’s not raw), you won’t want to touch it again (I know, it’s what we grew up on!). See here for more great info.

– Eating grass-fed meats/dairy and pastured poultry is the best way to go both for you and the environment. You hardly get any nutrients out of those regular conventional (battery farmed) chicken eggs and that meat that comes from cows who ate corn rather than grass. Not good… See here for more info.

–Soaking or sprouting your grains/legumes (and even milling your grains at home) is the best way to get the most nutrients out of them! See here for more info.

–Fermenting your vegetables/dairy is also the best way to get all those nutrients and protect yourself from anti-nutrients. Ever heard of kefir or kombucha? Yeah, me neither, but I have heard of sauerkraut! See here and here for more info.

–Soy is particularly bad for you if you are trying to have children, as it has an estrogenic effect that can decrease fertility in both men and women! Look at any of your store bought foods (especially those in boxes)… I can almost guarantee that there’s some form of soy in them!) See here and here for more info.

So anyway.

I could go on for days about what I’ve been learning, but I’ll stop there. Amidst all of these new discoveries, I’ve been learning too is that although I believe it is important to take care of our bodies and the environment, as best as we can, you also can only do as much as your budget and time allow. But also, it’s so very easy for this to become an idol (as with anything in life), as I have found in the last couple weeks. Not that there’s anything wrong with being excited to learn about all of this, but it shouldn’t be my main focus. If the ultimate goal is not to honor God through your body, then it’s for nothing.

Colossians 3:1-3
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

And more encouragement for when it’s hard to be healthy!

2 Corinthians 4:16-18
So we do no lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

There’s probably a hundred more verses that would better suit what I’m trying to get at, but that’s what I’ve come up with for now. :) Remembering to keep the focus always on Christ. Soul first, body second. Whatever you set your mind and heart on, that is what you are worshiping and showing the world what is most valuable in this life. I want to feed myself both with spiritual food (“I am the bread of life” -Jesus) and also physical food, but always with the ultimate purpose and direction of being better suited to follow and worship the Lord.

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About Carrie

Lover and follower of Jesus, wife to a loving husband, cardiac nurse in a big city hospital, aspiring cook and baker, notorious night owl, and enjoyer of all the gifts God has graciously given me!
View all posts by Carrie

This entry was posted on Monday, February 15th, 2010 at 8:00 am and posted in Christ, food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Yay! I’m so proud of you for researching such things. Before I started the JP+ business (you need to let me know how much $ I owe you, by the way), I thought eating low fat was the extent of a healthy diet. But I have learned SO much regarding nutrition since then, and even though it seems a nearly impossible (both time- and financial-wise) task to incorporate all of the knowledge I’ve gained into our diets, we’ve been doing it bit by bit. I’m going to forward you a great article I got a couple years ago from Experience Life magazine (we get it with our Lifetime membership–best health-related mag I’ve ever read, though it leans to the weird side spiritually).

@ Mom… Nope thats not me, just a random picture I found on the internet that I wanted to use.

@ Heidi… Oh trust me I’ve been looking into the products I’m using on my body too!! That’s a whole ‘nother novel of a post. It’s sad, even a lot of the Melaleuca stuff that I bought I’ve found isn’t the safest, but at least I CAN say that it’s a lot safer than most products out there. I’m going to be making some of my own products at home soon, it’ll definitely be something I blog about in the future!

Thanks for the article (again! :))… I’ll give it a read sometime tonight again, as I don’t remember the specifics, but I know part of it was about milk. The blogs I’ve read (so many good ones!!) haven’t really discussed the pH factor much from what I’ve seen. Do you read any good ones that incorporate that? My favorite blog lately has been passionatehomemaking.com but also kitchenstewardship.com, foodrenegade.com, cheeseslave.com, thenourishinggourmet.com, heavenlyhomemakers.com and I could go on and on. My mom gave me a big stack of her old Experience Life magazines, they looked to have some great health info in them!

That’s cool that you’re doing all this reading. I’ve heard similar things about raw milk, but I think it’s illegal to sell it in stores.

I’m often a little squeamish about relying on blogs for anything related to nutrition unless it’s very obvious that the person has some background or education in that field. There’s a lot of sketchy stuff masquerading as science, so just be careful. For example, I’m fairly certain most nutritionist would flat out disagree with your statement about saturated fats (though might agree with your statement about vegetable oils) and the article that you linked to makes some pretty big jumps in logic to support a preconceived idea. At least, that’s how it reads. She’s obviously entitled to an opinion, and so are you, but I’d do some more careful reading before jumping on that wagon. At one point, I was interested in the Nourishing Traditions book, but the more I read about it, the more it sounded completely bunk. So, I read some, and read some more, read other things. Here’s a few books that I found particularly interesting.

This second one was much more practical – this woman is a nutritionist, and she basically investigates any food buying choice you would have to make and the health aspects surrounding it. She’s definitely got a bit of a chip on her shoulder when it comes to politics (she has a book called food politics that is fascinating) but the chapter on fats and oils was INCREDIBLY helpful.http://www.amazon.com/What-Eat-Marion-Nestle/dp/0865477043/ref=sip_rech_dp_10

Thanks for the book recommendations, I will definitely be checking them out!

The links that I posted were only one of many sites that I’ve found, so it’s not the only source of what I’m finding out. Have you ever heard of Weston A. Price Foundation? That’s another site I’ve found that has been very helpful. http://www.westonaprice.org I’m planning on reading the book “Eat Fat, Lose Fat” which talks about fat (obviously) and it’s by a nutritionist/biochemist. And obviously I’m not going to be eating sticks of butter like it’s a granola bar or anything. :)

Oh and I do know that raw milk is not sold at stores, it has to be found from a local farmer. I have a contact for one (from the farmer I bought eggs/beef from a couple weeks ago) but we aren’t quite ready to make that leap yet (financially, mostly). I’m also staying clear of the Nourishing Traditions book for now, since I know she has a little bit a new-age outlook on health/spiritual wellness. I’ve heard there is some great info for cooking and recipes, though. Another lady I want to check out is Sue Gregg, who has been writing cookbooks for whole food cooking for decades… and she’s Christian too. http://www.suegregg.com Her cookbooks look really good and helpful!

There’s definitely a lot of conflicting information out there, so I try to find blogs that I think do some good quality research (as much as they’re able to), have the right mindset about it (hopefully they are Christian), and are really trying to figure it all out just like me. That being said, I know it can’t be trusted 100%, but I’m finding that I trust most of the blogs I’ve found over much of what I’ve been taught in school/work or simply heard from media… (most doctors at hospitals just prescribe X medication and call it a day, hardly factoring in diet AT ALL, and we were hardly taught about it in school either!)

I’ll have to go check those blogs out . . . the bit about the milk is interesting and sounds yummier, for reals. I drink a lot of non-fat milk and I’ve had the real stuff and its great, desert compared to non-fat . . . but I’m not sure its all that great for infants/kiddos that are still developing. I could totally be wrong . . . but my biggest prob with that bit would be that we go through about 2 gallons of milk a week with kids, breakfast cereal and cooking in this house, that would be really really expensive.

anyhoo, just a thought. I haven’t done any research, thats just what I was told, when my tots were babies, by the pediatrician.

I can second the interesting factor on the book The China Study. I have two copies, just so I could loan one out to other people. The transformation it made in the author’s life alone is pretty astounding.

What ulterior motives with WAPF have you heard? I have really only found/read great things about them and so many of the Christian frugal/green blogger’s I find support and mostly follow the teachings of WAPF. I’d be curious what you’ve read! Why have you chosen the wellnessforum.com to base your nutrition info on? I checked out the site but can’t find free articles or info… any help?